A Do it Best dealer's post-typhoon struggle

Handyman chain in the Philippines gets into the thick of the recovery process in hard-hit Tacloban.

Handyman stores throughout the Philippines, like this one near Manila, are raising relief funds.

Like most buildings and structures in the Philippines city of Tacloban, the mall housing Handyman’s -- a Do it Best Corp. member -- suffered significant damage from Typhoon Haiyan in November.

The mall’s roof was partially ripped away and its windows completely destroyed, allowing mud and rain to pour into the shopping center. To make matters worse, the city of Tacloban is still without power, making any efforts to clean up and re-open very difficult. Officials there expect it to take up to six months for the store to re-open in full.

The storm and its aftermath have put Handyman's operators into full recovery mode as the co-op reports as it rushes to provide much-needed supplies and support to the people of Tacloban. The store is working toward a partial re-opening in the next week or so (power or not) so that it can provide basic necessities like food, flashlights, sleeping bags and other items to residents.

In addition, Handyman’s is working behind the scenes bringing in additional supplies of the items residents need most. This has taken some nimble logistical planning to source supplies – tents, solar generators, flashlights, batteries, solar lanterns – and get them to the storm-ravaged area. Handyman’s has ordered some supplies directly from local suppliers and transferred some items in from other Handyman’s locations in Southeast Asia. At the same time, they’ve sourced a significant amount of flashlights and batteries from a Do it Best Corp. vendor that will of great use for customers when they arrive in the next week.

On top of all this, Handyman’s is collecting money and other donated items at all of its stores throughout the Philippines to send to Tacloban for distribution among those affected by the storm.